media coverage and legal appeals forced the u.s. military to admit the number of hunger strikers at one time. but it denies more than one hundred starving themselves. washington cuts the final part of its european missile defense shield saying there's not enough cash to put interceptors on its pacific coast instead. nazi veterans and supporters both young and old marched through the capital riga causing discussed among locals and tourists witnessing the fascist flashback. international news and comment live from our studio here in moscow this is r.t.

with you twenty four hours a day. the u.s. military has denied reports of a mass hunger strike at guantanamo bay lawyers for more than one hundred detainees claim their clients have gone without food for over a month the captives most of whom were cleared for release years ago reportedly began the protest after prison guards desecrated the qur'an spokesman captain robert duran denied the claims admitting only that the number of detainees refusing all food has risen to fourteen he added that some of being force fed and one is in hospital a lawyer for the inmates told r.t. that reality is being twisted by authorities to downplay the crisis. finding hunger strikers that is also one clear i think that went on a mo is being very careful in the way that they're they're denying these claims they're saying the number of men who have refused all through the number of men who are being to. these kinds of things there is a question about exactly how the authorities are defining hunger strikers and

determining when when they need to be to that our understanding is that based on previous standards the determination of who is a hunger striker is a discretionary determination that kuantan a moment makes if the definition of hunger striker is entirely in their control and it is a matter of their discretion that that explains how they are able to say that there are no more than a handful of men on hunger strike. going to move officials claim most of the alleged hunger strike is a refusing regular meals while still snecking but lawyers who've been to the base say the shocked by the deteriorating condition of the detainees and despite the outcry the mainstream media continues to shun the stories all these reports not reports. when the us joined the united nations human rights council back in two thousand and nine thousand a proper obama announced his intention to close the guantanamo bay detention center

now as the island prison enters its twelfth year of operation one hundred sixty three these are still languishing there and over forty one hundred thirty are on a life threatening hunger strike the story has been denied by washington and essentially ignored by mainstream media now as our t.v. first reported on tuesday lawyers for the get more prisoners say the men began their hunger strike on february sixth to protest the alleged confiscation of their personal items including letters personal photos bed sheets razors and also the alleged sacrilegious handling of the qur'an during cell searches at the center for constitutional rights says that they've received reports of detainees coughing blood losing consciousness and being hospitalized attorneys say that if the strike enters its forty fifth day that participants can experience hearing loss

and potential blindness or use for the get more prisoners have sent a letter to u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel urging him to help end the mass hunger strike. in the meantime organizations like the red cross have made attempts to check in on the inmates here's what a representative told r.t. . are really the result of. defeat. so. there needs to be a clear legal framework and a transparent process. two.

of the one hundred sixty six detainees languishing get more than eighty six to be exact have been cleared for release now this week the u.n. said that the u.s. is of violating international human rights indefinitely holding prisoners at guantanamo without charge the human rights council is urging washington to quote bring an end to these illegal practices by either prosecuting prisoners in civilian court or releasing. new york. human rights activists are calling for action to resolve the crisis although amnesty international usually a prominent voice hasn't joined the chorus. spokes person why they're not buying the claims of recently been to guantanamo. not having access to detainees is a problem for a human rights organization is something we raise with the operatives we have

access you know when when there is a trial so-called military commission trial we're allowed to go and observe. those trials but we have no access to the detainees themselves and yes of course it's a problem so we have to wait until a detainee is released and so we can speak to this of course leads to yes the reporting of. on individual detainee cases and it leads to a time lag because like i say that the lawyers themselves and not spent you know they're not there the whole time it requires declassification of information when they do get it so it's a really it's a really problematic situation but it's been problematic the whole time that the guantanamo detentions have been in operation. trainees are held at guantanamo indefinitely without charge or trial and some can't leave despite being cleared for release but was once among them held on groundless allegations and set free without

an apology he shared the harrowing details of his ordeal with r.t. . i have been myself tortured and different kinds of. laws and the only reason why they brought us to guantanamo was because there's no any human rights existing over there like in prisons or us and that's mean they could. do and make with us whatever they like to do and. they specially tortured me to force me for signing papers and every time when i refused they kept just touching me in different kind of face they just try to really all kind of flakes to break us and. saw in they tried to psychological ways and physical torture to break the detainees and the same way with myself

and. every time if you refused to do anything they tortured you punish you for this i must have got tortured by electroshocks and waterboarding and stuff like that but i have seen also a. kid's life nine years to a few sold kids inside the camp and of course it was for me more difficult to to watch of those kids how they get getting beaten up in front of me and it was for me really harder to get tortured myself. on our website in a moment we want to know your opinion on the matter every voice counts and you can tell us why you think one is still open after more than eleven years while perhaps you think the u.s. is to blame for still not keeping its promise to close the facility maybe that cuba should never have least the base to america in the first place perhaps you blame other countries for refusing to guantanamo detainees or indeed you see the nine eleven terror attacks is the main reason that the camp is still in business where

you can head over to our web site and have your say right now if you already here's how the voting is going so far the vast majority blamed washington for failing to keep its pledges and we can see that almost equally small numbers of you think are responsible for what's happening at. your vote if you haven't already done so. coming up in the program the distribution of defense. european missile defense shield to put more defenses on home soil. the cost of living is britain prepared to embrace new cuts we take a closer look at what the bedroom tax will cost societies those stories and of the still to come.

technology. developments from around. story.

continues here in washington the scrapped a key phase of its european missile defense shield citing a lack of funds and development problems united states will deploy additional ground based missile interceptors on its a pacific coast instead and what is said to be a response to pyongyang's recent nuclear threats from. the details looks like the nuclear threat coming from north korea is now considered far more dangerous by the us than any potential risk coming from iran at least it was pyongyang as missile threat that u.s. secretary of defense chuck hagel cited as the prime reason for beefing up missile capacity as an already existing base in alaska and placing an additional rater and japan at the same time washington officials announced plans to scrap the final

phase of a defense shield in eastern europe which would have seen interceptors capable of destroying most of russia's nuclear missiles and that has been a huge point of contention between moscow and washington for. quite some time now in fact going back to march of last year the infamous exchange between obama and then president mr medvedev in seoul of the nuclear security summit with the american president saying he will have more flexibility on the issue after the elections so we could speculate this could very well be the u.s. president sticking to his promises but this doesn't mean russia now has nothing to worry about after all japan and alaska aren't exactly far from its borders and anyway there are still plans to build some facilities in eastern europe though on a smaller scale than originally planned well for more on this i'm not joined live by any measure and she's a former intelligence officer for five and the pentagon's going to put fourteen

more missile interceptors in alaska that's about a fifty percent increase on the current numbers blaming the recent nuclear threats from north korea is it really likely the will launch a nuclear strike. it would be suicidal if you were to do that what we're looking at at this point is north korea being a useful idiot the pretext for america to defend a resource rich part of the world and when i was in my five the one thing we were always taught in terms of assessing a threat from any sort of source or country wonder they have the capability and today they have the intention now of course north korea is very loudly said to have the intention to try and attack america but they certainly don't have the capability at this point and even if they were to develop into stick an intercontinental ballistic missiles the nearest fish for america they would hit only alaska and that's why i think americans citing the these new defenses and glasgow is always been a concern is it still not a major or is north korea now the enemy number one as it were well it's once been

a puzzle because we of course both countries featured on george bush's five axis of evil list all those years ago but north korea's always be much more belligerent i think iran and this is the assessment of the entire u.s. intelligence community which came out of the national intelligence estimate in two thousand and seven which was iran had stopped trying to develop any sort of nuclear weapon to see in two thousand and three and this has been stood up time and time again since two thousand and seven so we all know iran is not a real threat to america's interests we all know it's not a threat to the west and this fake shield they were trying to provide to eastern europe because they would be in range of any of that iran might be able to launch was just a fake ploy i think it was used as an excuse so it's interesting now that the focus is moving to an overtly aggressive play small and capable country away from iran but i hope it's not a failed to. stop watching iran stop watch of u.s. government lies trying to find an excuse to attack iran or if you say it's

a big threat. coming from north korea and iran how do you see the future of the anti missile defense shield in eastern europe after all now we're seeing blaming the lack of resources and also its effectiveness that's what they're putting out of poland or not going ahead with the brits. so how do you see the future of the n.b.a. now well it's true america is of you know effectively bankrupt as a country i mean for beginning a mystery spending because they've militarily overreached they're in serious problems because they have and that's the one thing they've never cut before but certainly in terms of what they're doing in europe we have a situation where they are tacitly admitting that iran is not a threat to eastern europe and that's a problem of the final point really on this one is looking at where the money goes when you try and develop a ballistic missile defense system that has yet to be proven to work nobody knows if it works and if you can make it work yet so effectively ever since ronald reagan announced star wars way back in the early one nine hundred eighty s. what we've seen is this is a threat that's used as a cash cow that is milked by the defense industry particularly boeing i believe and

raytheon who stand to make billions out of building these fake defense shields but never the most symbolically they are important russia of course not all happy with the idea missile defense shield in eastern europe now how will china react to what america's doing much closer in its backyard well that's going to be very interesting question it's almost like north korea is the patsy it's been put up as the reason to put these new defenses in alaska and to keep it is of course there's been this covert war to control the diminishing resources of the world not only revenue but oil and all the rest of it being waged across continents between. the u.s. and china over the last decade and what we're looking at now i think is a very careful geopolitical strategy to control bases in alaska to protect alaska because anyone who takes and has alaska can control the arctic area and as the arctic needs to melt more quickly and more countries going to fight for the

resource rich areas the ice recedes then america by having these defense in alaska will be very well placed to protect its economic interests in that area interesting point only mushing thank you very much for my for my five officer joining us live there in sort of thank you. well go to our website for some stunning birth control data from the world's most populated country the number of abortions. in beijing took up the. policy four decades ago amounts to four times the population of london . and. there's no other choice but to turn to war machines to rescue trapped motorists those stories and others.

veterans who fought alongside during world war two held their annual march through the capital with the mood traditionally intense there were a number of arrest after the leader of a local anti fascist group was beaten up the parade's distinct nationalist. references also. it was born in a prison in franco's fascist spain he and his parents were repressed by that regime so he was hurt when he learned that says veterans marched through the streets of lobbyist capital riga. all of europe fought so hard to eradicate fashion in spain and italy where it was one state ideology you would now never see even if

the stations which glorify now it's considered shameful what happens here in riga is totally incredible and outrageous. marches by former lothian s.s. legionnaires in riga are nothing out of the ordinary since lottery became independent they've been held every year the men who once fought on the side of nazi germany are seen as freedom fighters by some here a view which divides society in this state for many years this march had been forbidden by the city's of a court decision that overturned it and them are still so place this year the high court decided to strike first even before the mayor had to say the court said that the march must take place and force the mayor to apologize for all the yes he had been banning this march the masterminds of this march lot because nationalists say they want the younger generation to embrace their history and recognize their heroes. i'm especially proud to see so many young people today this is proof that

we're living in a free country which had been under occupation for many years. but many in europe simply cannot understand what appreciation of freedom has to do with three year olds walking alongside former nazi troops especially given that lot is a member of the e.u. which has no second opinion on fascism. as a member of the infamous an outside force for remembrance of the locals and it's a very good book to say it's very easy to non-fans that on one side you are members of such an event. an organization to remember what happened seventy years ago in order to avoid old children to repeat the mistakes of the easterlies and on the other side those people the mob and to read the diversity because it's pretty crazy change for the law to be as anti-fascist movement has been fighting these marches for a decade with no success because they fear this movement is getting stronger as last

year's economy gets weak and strengthening it is a well planned government tactic for the chicago but it's easy to bring up nationalist ideas to divert attention from economic troubles our parliament even wanted to make march sixteenth a national holiday of the latvian army this day had nothing to do with our army but in nazi germany march sixteenth it was called a day of heroes praising the army this speaks volumes to our government about this . year's anti-fascists have sent petitions to the european commission many times to help get these marches outlawed with no response so far putting pictures of nazi camps and lot where tens of thousands bearish then the nine hundred forty s. is yet another attempt to have their outrage recognized. ski reporting from riga in la to the u.k. has found a cheaper way to deal with the housing crisis the so-called tax means that many who

live in social housing would either lose around fourteen percent of the benefits of the have a spare room or move. looks at how the less well off a trapped in a catch twenty two. brian rider didn't ask for a two bedroom flat when he applied for emergency accommodation it was what the council gave him it was meant to be temporary and he's now live to fourteen yes it's my home of my dad my higher we've done all the work and we've put the wood paneling on the. we in fact stop decorating halfway through when we realize there are more i have to move because i can afford it and what's the point of decorating when i want it to improve but yeah it's more harm not all of my good morning it will upset me to move on but brian who suffers from osteoporosis and can't work has little choice the government's so-called bedroom tax comes into effect from april

first six hundred forty thousand social housing tenants with at least one spare room i have to cough up the cash from that already stretched budgets will move and there is friends bedroom according to the government less finances now officially under occupied that's because he's also got this bad bad dream. and as a result he's going to have to fork out fifty pounds from his housing benefit every month in order to pay for it that's money that bryan needs to put towards food and heating so he's willing to downsize in order to avoid losing the money he so desperately needs but he's been told that there are no available properties i asked him for problems once was about six months ago for moving to a one bedroom every time i've been told but can't move me to one bedroom nevertheless westminster says the twenty three billion pound housing benefit bill needs to be slashed people are being told they should move to a smaller flat but in my constituency there are fewer than

a hundred places people could move to a much fairly typical across the country as a whole if you can't move to a smaller property you can't avoid it you just have to pay the money and you're left with very very little amount just does seem very unfair the government is saying they won't have a tax on big mansions but they are having a bedroom tax on the poorest people in the country the department for work and pensions declined to comment on the controversial policy the impending changes of course such widespread concern that the government announced the parents of those serving in the armed forces foster carers and parents of severely disabled children will now be exempt from the changes as for the rest of the body in this situation is being blocked into a corner and until the council finds him a smaller fact brian will have to take the financial hit i haven't had any suggestions from any of them about what to do if and when they do is run out and i

find it hard to do which i would now realise is happening coming closer. so i have no choice in the matter it has been getting even more stressful for the closer we get to the day because i just don't know what i'm going to do with what many are calling black april fast approaching critics say it's those with the least that are being hit the hard. britain france plan to push ahead with direct weapons supplies to the opposition in syria which is now into its third year of civil conflict on friday both nations trying to get the e.u. to drop its arms embargo to allow guns to stream into the hands of the regime forces moscow says any such a term would be in breach of international law however the french president says opposition fighters offered guarantees arms will not end up in the hands of islamic extremists this comes amid rebel claims that hundreds of their men who've been trained by the u.s. to use the aircraft weaponry have returned from jordan to fight in syria political

activists dr years and i think that some gulf states are pushing for weapons to be sent in. there are talks now that qatar is using its financial pressure with sign and. business contracts and billions of dollars with britain to pressure britain towards taking such caps or steps and terms of arming the syrian rebels that's why now we hear rhetorics that britain may even go out of its way and start arming the rebels outside any european union agreement or outside international most of the humanitarian and atrocities that we witnessed in syria are attributed to the ass off because i'm in syria we've seen how even you and reports that we all know that were very very biased against the syrian government now they are reporting on the crimes against humanity on

beheading on recruiting children on the right and on that torture are. slowly doing just placements but then syria and outside syria so the humanitarian pretext for intervention is in a way a direct result of the western intervention in syria by which there are they continue to send armed militants into syria. time now for some other world news in brief the hundreds of march from the building in the afghan capital the demonstrators are demanding the release of several people allegedly detained by the u.s. military and an immediate pullout of american troops from the country's wardak province this after the afghan president had given u.s. troops two weeks to leave following allegations that locals had been abducted and tortured would have provinces seen a recent surge in american led anti insurgency operations. has secured a ten billion euro bailout deal from euro zone finance ministers to rescue its

failing economy in return the island state has to boost taxes shrink the banking sector and cut its significant budget deficit cypriot banks have been exposed to a thirty burden neighbor greece this comes just ahead of the country's finance minister's visit to russia which could also reportedly lend a helping hand. washes broke out in the canadian city of montreal after five hundred people attended an annual rally against police brutality hundreds of officers used pepper spray kettle in tactics to disperse the march declared illegal protest organizers claim they were up to two hundred and fifty arrests. well after bad weather upset plans to return the international space station's crew back to earth on friday two russian cosmonauts and an american astronaut have now landed safe and sound with more of the teams voyage home is our correspondent tom bot. kevin ford oh leg novitsky and yes guinea terril kin are back safely on earth after their five months stint up on the international space station on the

video screen here at mission control in moscow we can see them being fished out of their soyuz capsule and kept warm after that rough descent through earth's atmosphere and down on to the step in kazakstan their return to earth delayed by a day because of bad weather they're casual came in today over the caspian and black sees without a hitch to be met by recovery teams on the step in kazakhstan for the first time ever those teams including three women helping to fish them out of their capsule and get them on the road to a climatized back to the atmosphere here on earth whilst on the international space station they help the crew up there conduct maintenance on the orbiting platform and also research much of that research focusing on the effects of microgravity both on the human body and on various engineering substances the next manned mission.